The term deportation is often used to mean the removal of any foreign citizen from a country. However in the UK, the legal definition of deportation is the removal of a foreign citizen with a criminal conviction (or whose removal from the UK is determined to be conducive to the public good). We only use the term “deportation” when referring to this specific situation.

We use the term removal to refer to any instance where a foreign citizen is removed from a country, including deportations. This is also sometimes referred to as a return.

The Home Office is the UK government department responsible for migration. The Home Office divides immigration removals into three broad categories:

1. Enforced returns - where the Home Office organises and enforces the removal of people who it considers do not have the right to stay in the UK and have not left the UK voluntarily.
2. Voluntary returns - where a person informs the Home Office that they want to return to their home country. In some circumstances they are provided with money to do so.
3. Refused at port and subsequently departed - where a person arrives at a UK border and is refused entry. They then leave the UK without ever technically crossing the border and legally entering the country.

The UK government carries out enforced returns in two ways. The majority of people are given a ticket on an ordinary passenger flight, where there are other passengers who are not being removed. The person being removed might be accompanied by one or more escorts.

The Home Office also rents out or charters aeroplanes to remove groups of people to the same country. These are widely referred to as charter flights. The Home Office generally uses the same airlines to carry out charter flights.